Top Story: A Historic Box Office Weekend: Five Of The Top Ten Films Are Animated Features

Nominations were announced today for the 14th annual VES Awards, recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, and games.

The nomienees were selected by members of the Visual Effects Society in nine different regions: Australia, Bay Area, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, New Zealand, Toronto, and Vancouver. In addition to the awards, a lifetime achievement award will be presented to director Ridley Scott, and the Visionary Award will be bestowed upon illustrator and conceptual artist Syd Mead.

Fox/Blue Sky’s The Peanuts Movie leads the animation field with five nominations, while Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur picked up four nominations apiece. The nominees for VES’s top animation honor, Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature, are The Peanuts Movie, Inside Out, Anomalisa, Hotel Transylvania 2, and The Good Dinosaur.

On the live-action vfx side, Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens leads the feature categories with seven nominations, while HBO’s TV series Game of Thrones leads all projects with a total of nine nominations. The VES Awards will be held on February 2nd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The nominees in 23 categories are as follows:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Furious 7
Mike Wassel
Karen Murphy
Martin Hill
Kevin McIlwain
Dan Sudick

San Andreas
Colin Strause
Randall Starr
Bryan Grill
Nordin Rahhali
Brian Cox

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Roger Guyett
Luke O’Byrne
Patrick Tubach
Paul Kavanagh
Chris Corbould

Mad Max: Fury Road
Andrew Jackson
Holly Radcliffe
Tom Wood
Dan Oliver
Andy Williams

The Martian
Richard Stammers
Barrie Hemsley
Matt Sloan
Chris Lawrence
Steven Warner

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

In The Heart of The Sea
Jody Johnson
Leslie Lerman
Sean Stranks
Bryan Hirota
Mark Holt

Bridge of Spies
Sven Martin
Jennifer Meislohn
Charlie Noble
Sean Stranks
Gerd Nefzer

The Walk
Kevin Baillie
Camille Cellucci
Viktor Muller
Sebastien Moreau

Everest
Dadi Einarsson
Roma O-Connor
Matthias Bjarnasson
Glen Pratt
Richard Van Den Bergh

The Revenant
Rich McBride
Ivy Agregan
Jason Smith
Nicolas Chevallier
Cameron Waldbauer

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

The Peanuts Movie
Steve Martino
Michael J. Travers
Nick Bruno
Scott Carroll

Inside Out
Michael Fong
Jonas Rivera
Victor Navone
Paul Mendoza

Anomalisa
Derek Smith
Rosa Tran
Joe Passarelli
John Joyce

Hotel Transylvania 2
Karl Herbst
Skye Lyons
Alan Hawkins
Genndy Tartakovsky

The Good Dinosaur
Sanjay Bakshi
Denise Ream
Michael Venturini
Jon Reisch

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

The Order: 1886
Nathan Phail-Liff
Dana Jan
Anthony Vitale
Scot Andreason

Halo 5: Guardians
Nicolas Bouvier
Jon Wood
Brien Goodrich
Matt Aldridge

The Hobbit: A Thief in the Shadows
Alasdair Coull
Daniel Smith
Nick Donaldson
Tim Elek

Destiny: The Taken King
Michael Zak
Mark Noseworthy
Stephen Scott
Dave Matthews

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
Thierry Dansereau
Francois Pelland
Marc-Andre Clermont
Mathieu Chouinard

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Nezlamna; Sea Dogfight
Dmitriy Ovcharenko
Igor Klimovsky
Egor Borschevsky
Vladimir Mikheyenko

Childhood’s End; Night Three
Kevin Blank
Adica Manis
Niklas Jacobson
Glenn Melenhorst

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Arabella
Jean-Claude Deguara
Natalie Reid
Nicolas Hernandez
Sara Bennett

The Strain; Identity
Dennis Berardi
Luke Groves
Matt Glover
Trey Harrell
Warren Appleby

Game of Thrones; The Dance of Dragons
Joe Bauer
Steve Kullback
Eric Carney
Derek Spears
Stuart Brisdon

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

Ikea; T-shirts
Diarmid Harrison Murray
Julie Evans
Tom Harding
Tim van Hussen

Halo 5; The Hunt Begins
Benjamin Walsh
Pip Malone
Brian Burke
Ian Holland

Audi; Birth
Andrew Proctor
Gemma Humphries
Mike Chapman
Gianluca Di Marco

SSE; Pier
Neil Davies
Tim Lyall
Hitesh Patel
Jorge Montiel

Game of War; Rooftop Alliance
David Lawson
Erin Hicke
Becky Porter
Krystal Sae Eua

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Goosebumps VR Adventure
Jason Schugardt
Mike Wigart
Alex Harding
Daniel Marsh

Nike; The Neymar Jr. Effect
Janelle Croshaw
Ian Markiewicz
Lou Pecora
Aruna Inversin

Kaka’s Great Adventure
Neelesh Gore
Rajiv Kessop
Amogh Vaidya
Shaffi Mahammad

Fast and Furious: Supercharged
Chris Shaw
Alysia Cotter
Ben White
Diego Guerrero

SpongeBob SubPants
Brent Young
John Kokum
Michael Smith
Timothy Williams

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

The Walk; World Trade Center
Jim Gibbs
Brian Flora
Laurent Taillefer
Pavel Kolar

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard
Yanick Dusseault
Mike Wood
Justin van der Lek
Quentin Marmier

Ant-Man; The Microverse
Florian Witzel
Taylor Shaw
Alexis Hall
Heath Kraynak

Jurassic World; Jungle Chase
Martyn Culpitt
Joao Sita
Yuta Shimizu
Michael Billette

Tomorrowland; Tomorrowland Center
Barry Williams
Greg Kegel
Quentin Marmier
Thang Le

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Vikings; To the Gates
Dominic Remane
Bill Halliday
Paul Wishart
Ovidiu Cinazan
Paul Byrne

Black Sails; XVIII
Erik Henry
Annemarie Griggs
Kevin Rafferty
Aladino Debert
Paul Stephenson

Penny Dreadful; And They Were Enemies
James Cooper
Bill Halliday
Sarah McMurdo
Mai-Ling Lee

Marvel’s Daredevil; Speak of the Devil
Bryan Godwin
David Van Dyke
Karl Coyner
Julie Long
Johan Kunz

Agent Carter; Now Is Not the End
Sheena Duggal
Addie Manis
Richard Bluff
Jayesh Dalal
Kenneth C. Clark

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Maz
Joel Bodin
Arslan Elver
Ian Comley
Stephen Cullingford

The Revenant; The Bear
Matt Shumway
Gaelle Morand
Karin Cooper
Leandro Estebecorena

Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulk
Jakub Pistecky
Lana Lan
John Walker
Sean Comer

Chappie; Chappie
Earl Fast
Chris Harvey
Mark Wendell
Robert Bourgeault

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

The Peanuts Movie; Snoopy
Jeff Gabor
Joseph Antonuccio
Ignacio Barrios
Sabine Heller

The Peanuts Movie; Charlie Brown
Matthew Doble
Steve Vanseth
Stephen Gressak
Nikki Tomaino

Inside Out; Joy
Shawn Krause
Tanja Krampfert
Jacob Merrell
Alexis Angelidis

The Good Dinosaur; Spot
Ana Gabriela Lacaze
Jacob Brooks
Lou Hamou-Lhadj
Mark C. Harris

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

The Good Dinosaur; The Farm
David Munier
Matthew Webb
Matt Kuruc
Tom Miller

Inside Out; Imagination Land
Amy L. Allen
Steve Karski
Eric Andraos
Jose L. Ramos Serrano

The Peanuts Movie; Charlie Brown’s Neighborhood
Jon Townley
Angel Camacho-Torres
Cleveland Hibbert
Ken Lee

Shaun the Sheep Movie; Under the Arches
Matt Perry
Charles Copping
Alfred Llupia Perez
Andy Brown

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

Game of Thrones; Mother’s Mercy; Wounded Drogon
Florian Friedmann
Jonathan Symmonds
Sven Skoczylas
Sebastian Lauer

Game of Thrones; Dance of Dragons; Drogon Arena Rescue
James Kinnings
Michael Holzl
Joseph Hoback
Matt Derksen

SSE; Pier; Orangutan
Jorge Montiel
Sauce Vilas
Philippe Moine
Sam Driscoll

Sainsbury’s; Mog
Sebastian Nino
Chris Hurtt
Joseph Henson
Gez Wright

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

Game of Thrones; City of Volantis
Dominic Piche
Christine Leclerc
Patrice Poissant
Thomas Montminy-Brodeur

Vikings; Paris
Paul Wishart
Karol Wlodarczyk
Tom Morrison
Matt Ralph

Game of Thrones; Drogon Arena
Rajeev B R.
Loganathan Perumal
Ramesh Shankers
Anders Ericson

Black Sails; Charles Town Harbor
Aladino Debert
Matt Dougan
Greg Teegarden
Ken Jones

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Ant-Man; Macro Action
James Baker
Alex Kahn
Thomas Luff
Rebecca Baehler

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation; Underwater Torus Chamber
Vincent Aupetit
Margaux Durand-Rival
Christopher Anciaume
Robert Elswit

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard
Paul Kavanagh
Colin Benoit
Susumu Yukuhiro
Greg Salter

The Walk; Towers Walk
Shawn Hull
Suzanne Cipolletti
Laurent Taillefer
Dariusz Wolski

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

SSE; Pier
Peter Agg
Sam Driscoll
Matthew Fuller

Halo 5: The Hunt Begins
Vladislav Tushevskiy
Tomas Zaveckas
Sho Hasegawa
Sergey Kosareff

Lipton; The Revolution in Tea
Jonathan -Wes- Westley
Tom Raynor
Christos Parliaros

Game of Thrones; Hardhome
David Ramos
Antonio Lado
Piotr Weiss
Félix Bergés

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

San Andreas; Los Angeles Destruction
Sandro Blattner
Hamish Schumacher
Nicholas Kim
Mario Rokicki

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Jay Cooper
Marian Mavrovic
Jean Lapointe
Alex Prichard

Tomorrowland
Francois Lambert
Jean Lapointe
Peter Demarest
Conny Fauser

Mad Max: Fury Road
Lindsay Adams
Matthew Wynne
Chris Davies
Phil Outen

The Revenant; Bear Attack
Donny Rausch
Alan Travis
Charles Lai
TC Harrison

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; BB-8
Joshua Lee
Matthew Denton
Landis Fields
Cyrus Jam

Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulkbuster
Howie Weed
Robert Marinic
Daniel Gonzalez
Myriam Catrin

Everest; Mt. Everest
Matthias Bjarnasson
Olafur Haraldsson
Kjartan Hardarson
Petur Arnorsson

Jurassic World; Indominus Rex
Steve Jubinville
Martin Murphy
Aaron Grey
Kevin Reuter

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Mad Max: Fury Road; Toxic Storm
Dan Bethell
Clinton Downs
Chris Young

Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulk vs Hulkbuster
Michael Balog
Jim Van Allen
Florent Andorra
Georg Kaltenbrunner

San Andreas; Hoover Dam / San Francisco Tsunami
Joe Scarr
Lukas Lepicovsky
Yves D-Incau
Marcel Kern

San Andreas; Los Angels Destruction
Remy Torre
Marc Horsfield
Niall Flinn
Victor Grant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Starkiller Base
Rick Hankins
Dan Bornstein
John Doublestein
Gary Wu

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

Vikings; To the Gates
Ovidiu Cinazan
Olivia Yapp
Greg Lamar
Meng Angel Li

Game of Thrones; Hardhome
Eduardo Díaz
Guillermo Orbe
Oscar Perea
Inmaculada Nadela

Game of Thrones; Drogon Arena
Michael Crane
Travis Nelson
Joe Salazar
Beverly Bernacki

Game of Thrones; Drogon Lair
Travis Nobles
Mark Spindler
Max Riess
Nadja Ding

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Inside Out
Amit Baadkar
Dave Hale
Vincent Serritella
Paul Mendoza

The Peanuts Movie
Alen Lai
Ilan Gabai
Chris Chapman
Douglas Seiden

The Good Dinosaur
Stephen Marshall
Magnus Wrenninge
Michael Hall
Hemagiri Arumugam

Home
Greg Gladstone
Michael Losure
Chris De St Jeor
Alex Timchenko

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

SSE; Pier
Gary Driver
Greg Spencer
Grant Connor

Game of War; Rooftop Alliance
Becky Porter
Jeannie Huynh
Patrick Heinen
Don Kim

Halo 5; The Hunt Begins
Ian Holland
Brian Delmonico
Brandon Nelson
Nicholas Kim

Under Armour; Rule Yourself
Gavin Wellsman
Nathan Kane
Michael Smith
Ilia Mokhtareizadeh

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Skål
Marco Hakenjos
Christian Zehetmeier
Timm Wagener
Manuel Seifert

Jagon
Julian Weiss
Vincent Ullmann
Fabian Fricke
Yafes Sahin

Citipati
Andreas Feix
Francesco Faranna

Korser
Guillaume Menard
Vincent Desgrippes
Jessie Hereng
Tangi Vaillant

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